15 Minutes of Utmost Happiness
What we need to be happy?
The ‘Rat race’ we are in
We are in a rat race. Chasing things that never come to us. Our dreams may seem little but it takes tremendous effort to fulfill it. We live in a time which is against simplicity and rest. But our heart needs simplicity and rest to grow.
We are trapped in the punishment of Sisyphus. Wake up everyday, brush up teeth, have some breakfast, get ready, go to work, work till 5 or 6 PM (working hour in Bangladesh), take the same bus, come back home, feel tired, have dinner and at last, go to bed to wake up in the next morning to do the same thing over and over again. At least, Sisyphus knew what he have to do for eternity, but we do not. We don’t know when this cycle will end. We put ourselves in the same cycle again and again hoping to build a little house, have a happy family, enjoy an anxiety less holiday with some loud laughters. So we chase, we chase things that never come to us and end up worrying about what comes next.
15 minutes of utmost happiness
One day, I was cycling and randomly roaming around in my university campus. I do this a lot. I love cycling aimlessly. It was in the morning. Sun was up, not hot yet, everyone rose up. I was cycling through the gentle breeze of the morning and watching the shivering of the tree leaves, waves of the glittering lake, hearing the laughter of groups, chirping of birds. Everything was so calm, fresh, and polite.
Suddenly, my heart was filled with a feeling of happiness that I never felt before. I don’t know why but it felt. In that very moment, I still knew that there are problems in my life, there is turbulence in the country, world is full of war, my family needs money, I need job, people are unhappy for many reasons but that sudden feeling of happiness was so strong that it stayed for a long period of time even if I was totally aware about the dystopic nature of the world. During that moment a thought came to my mind which I call “15 minutes of utmost happiness”.
let me explain-
In that moment I thought- What if I knew the exact time of my death! what if I knew that after a certain time I will die! lets say, I know that I will die after 40 years (I am 25 now).
let’s imagine, After 40 years the day has come. I have only 15 minutes left in this world and I have found myself in a position where I am a successful person, I have a happy family, my sons and daughters are all established, my wife and I grew old together, I have all I wanted. I know that after my death my sons and daughters will take a good care of their mother. So all things are set. I have nothing to worry about. Through the last 40 years I have done charity works, contributed to the society and politics as much as I could, I have read books, watched movies and was fond of art and philosophy. I was religious, kept myself away from all the sins; at least, kept myself away from all the major sins. So I have lived a wonderful life. Now I am going to die after 15 minutes. Somehow I know that god is pleased with me. I have nothing to worry about. In the world, there are still many problems, the next day is still uncertain but I don’t have to think about it. I am no more obliged. I will not exist physically after 15 minutes.
To me, this 15 minutes will be my happiest 15 minutes in this world. This feeling of happiness is the highest feeling anyone could ever imagine. We all can feel it, right?
Happiness
So I asked myself, why would I feel that way? two reasons-
- I know the exact time of my death
- I’ve fulfilled my duties in this world
I think these are the two important things to live a happy life.
It’s true that knowing the exact time of our death is impossible but it is possible to remind ourselves every day that our death is certain and we can die anytime.
To me, the second approach is more important to lead a happy life. Wherever we are, whatever we do, we should fulfill our duties. We can not know the exact time of our death, but we know what our responsibilities are. We know, as a family member what we should do, we know as a member of society how I should act and what are my duties, we know what responsibilities I have toward the state and the whole world. If we can fulfill them we will be happy at the end of the day. Yes, it’s true, we can not fulfill all our responsibilities successfully. But I believe, even if we managed to fulfill our duties in smaller extent, we will feel happy. I felt that too.
